Abstract: Secondary succession and vegetation recovery patterns are examined in two abandoned mining camps in the western Great Basin Desert. Results from ANOVA and Tukey comparison tests indicate that, after approximately 70 years of recovery, significant differences remain in total cover, therophyte cover and species richness between disturbed sites and control plots. The outstanding difference is the dominance of the introduced annual Bromus tectorum in the disturbed areas. Because the presence of B. tectorum changes the fire, grazing and competition dynamics of the desert vegetation assemblages, complete recovery or convergence of the disturbed vegetation to that of the ambient control plots is considered improbable. The dominance of B. tectorum at the expense of the other, native, species is viewed as a permanent change.